Greeva Garg–
Stan Swamy’s Lawyer Senior Advocate Mihir Desai has requested the Bombay High Court to supervise the investigation into Swamy’s custodial death.
Desai asked the Court to exercise parens patriae jurisdiction to ascertain the veracity of the claims that there was negligence by the National Investigation Agency and Taloja Central Prison towards Swamy’s health.
Under parens patriae, a State or Court has a paternal and protective role over its citizens or others subject to its jurisdiction, where they are unable to decide for themselves.
Desai requested to keep the bail plea by Swamy pending posthumously before the division bench comprising of Justice SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar.
In this regard, Desai cited the Judgments in Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India & Ors. and Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India, to argue that the Supreme Court had held that the High Court was parens patriae to the applicants in the case.
“The High Court would continue to be parens patriae of the deceased,” he submitted.
Desai sought permission from Father Fraser Mascarhenas to attend the preliminary enquiry under the provision of Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) into Swamy’s custodial death.
Desai urged the Court to issue directions for investigation as per National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) guidelines and also for an investigation report to be submitted to the magistrate for monitoring by Court.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court heard Swamy’s Plea on July 5, before his custodial death. The plea will further be heard on August 4.
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